Ablevision Film Complete

Joe & Sarah

The Ablevision film 'Joe & Sarah' is complete. I finished the edit this week. Then a sound mix, music and grade. I'll go back in for some tweaks before the premiere, I got the final music mix after I was finished, which I do want to put in, because it's good! Dermot O'Mahony pulling it of the bag again! But it's as close to finished as you can get. I'd be happy enough to sign off on it now, but while I have the time I figure I can make it that tiny bit better.

A challenging, interesting, enlightening and highly enjoyable experience. One which I would definitely repeat and recommend any other filmmaker to do the same if the opportunity came their way. In fact, if you are interested in getting involved and offering your services to Ablevision, you should drop them a line via the website: http://ablevisionireland.com/ great group of people and a great opportunity to do something different.

The premiere of the film is part of their own film festival, the Ablevision Film Festival, taking place on May 17th in the Droichead Arts Centre in Drogheda. It's an all day event, a mini-fest of sorts, with workshops in the morning, screenings in the afternoon and an award ceremony to finish. Tickets are only €2 and you can book here.

One of the talks will be by yours truly. I've entitled the talk 'From Script to Screen Without a Bean: Secrets of no and low budget filmmaking' and I'll talk for an hour or so on how to get a film up and running when it seems impossible. It will be aimed at first-time, independent, student and amateur filmmakers. Come along if you're able.

Some Images:

Daddy's none too pleased!

Has Joe made the right decision?

A helpful stranger.

Out in the cold.

Derelict in Drogheda

Derelict Q&A after the screening at the Droichead Arts Centre (photo by Maryann Kelly)

Happy New Year!!! I'm a bit late with that, apologies! A busy beginning to the year, the blog suffered as a result. It was a nice start to the year with a screening of Derelict in my home town of Drogheda. We almost packed he place. Great turn out and a warm reception. Lot's of positive comments afterwards, of course, I think  people are probably too polite to come up to me and say they thought it was crap! But that's OK if they did! I think people appreciated it in general.

Me (photo by Maryann Kelly)

I introduced the film as a special event for me, first, it's ten years since I first screened in there, with a short film that never really should have been shown publicly. A ghost story called The Girl in the Window! It was more of an experiment, no script, some storyboard, and just an attempt to test some scary scene and see if they worked. They did, people jumped, but the film was terrible and made no sense narratively! Oh well. Hopefully the films have improved since then!

Secondly, it's probably my last screening in the Droichead Arts Centre and the last film I'll make in Drogheda, at least for a while, as I'm immigrating later this year. I think I've talked about it here before, so I wont go on about it. Needless to say it was a full circle moment to screen my first feature film, ten years after my first screening there and as my last screening there. A happy/sad moment indeed.

Patrick O'Donnell, Steve Gunn & Gerry Shanahan (photo by Maryann Kelly)

After the screening we had a Q&A session, expertly hosted by Sinead Brassil. I know Sinead as a producer at our local radio station LMFM, and she's started working for FeckTV as well. She interviewed me earlier in the week, so I thought she'd be a perfect choice, and she was. John Lawlor (DOP) actors Steve Gunn (Davey-boy) Patrick O'Donnell (Tone) and Gerry Shanahan (Daniel) all took part. It was fun! Then off to the pub for a few pints afterwards. A good night all round.

There are also two Videos on Vimeo:

Video 1

Video 2

My thanks for the Droichead Arts Centre, always a pleasure to screen there! Great team. To Sinead Brassil for hosting. John, Steve, Patrick and Gerry for taking part in the Q&A. And everyone for coming out, I know there were other option on the night, but it means a lot that you chose our film! Thanks.